When you hire a sales professional, they usually receive a base salary plus commission. This is the way it has always been, and many organizations do not have the vision to change. The age old question, does the client buy from the company or do they buy from the sales rep? People buy from people, and I would do anything to keep your people.
The heartbeat of any company are the people. When you hire a sales rep your intentions are they will have a long successful career with you. Most of the time you do not know what you are getting until months down the road. The issue is you are hiring different personalities, and they are motivated by different things. Money, recognition, career growth, job stability, work life balance are just a few motivations. Our society has never been more educated, and it is easy for someone to fake his or her way into a job. One way to end this is to use consultants and if you like the way they work, offer them a job. It beats reading resumes or calling references.
Would your company benefit from a reduced turnover rate at the sales rep position? Would your clients enjoy dealing with the same rep for 5-10 years? What kind of relationship would you have with potential customers if a new rep is not walking in twice a year? Would this increase sales and improve the bottom line?
The position that turns over the most are sales reps, why is that? Some people are not cut out to be in sales. Rejection, unorganized, lack of preparation, poor people skills, can’t hack the pressure are a few reasons. Why do salespeople fail? Yes, some of the reasons I listed are above, but sometimes it is because of the systems you may or may not have in place. Have you promoted the wrong person into management? Not every great sales person makes a great manager. How do you keep sales reps around for a long time? It is time to start thinking how they are compensated. Have you ever thought about a commission free sales team? Compensation can be based on the last 2-3 years salary. They can still increase their wages by selling more. When someone is underperforming, you can let them go because numbers do not lie.
You should have two goals. The first goal is to reduce or eliminate turnover and the second goal is to remove stress. Removing stress increases productivity and higher productivity equals increase revenue.
Sales are contingent on the attitude of the sales person, not the attitude of the prospect. What do you have to lose, take 2-3 reps and give it a try?
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